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Southwest Airlines, primarily a domestic airline throughout its over 50-year history, is looking at expanding to overseas markets, a further sign that the once-distinctive Texas airline is following the path of rival carriers.
“Southwest Airlines is continuing to consider ways to grow our business as we evolve to meet the needs of our current and future customers,” Southwest said a statement to CNN. “One of the things we are exploring is the potential to expand our network to new international destinations on our Boeing 737 aircraft.”
Southwest currently flies to a handful of international locations in the Caribbean, but had not expanded beyond those routes.
Southwest had been a low-cost carrier for most of its history, with relatively uncommon features like offering only one class of tickets, open seating and no baggage or change fees. But within the last couple of years, Southwest has, under pressure from an activist shareholder group, started charging baggage fees for the first checked bag, began red-eye flights, and announced plans for premium seating and reserved seating. The reserved seats will be available starting in January.
Southwest did not say what markets it is considering for international service, or when the routes might start. It will need to reach agreements with its unions representing pilots and flight attendants before it can start long-haul international service.
“There are several dependencies that would have to be considered to make that a reality, including changes to our pilot and flight attendant contracts,” Southwest said in its statement.
The possibility of expanded international flights was first revealed by the Southwest Airlines Pilots Association in a note to its members on Wednesday. While details of the company’s plans are not yet known, “we expect negotiations to cover a handful of destinations at most,” the union said in an email to members.
Southwest currently serves only 10 international markets, all relatively close to the United States – Mexico, Jamaica, the Bahamas, Aruba, the Dominican Republic, Costa Rica, Belize, Cuba, the Cayman Islands and Turks and Caicos.
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